Flushed With Victory, Charter-School Advocates Share Words of Wisdom

Charter-school advocates rejoiced over legislative victories while
they traded advice on everything from raising money to finding a school
site during a recent national meeting here.

Emboldened by the passage of charter-school bills in eight states in
the most recent legislative session, many of the 200 education
officials, lawmakers, school board members, and teachers here touted
the benefits of the schools, which operate free of most state
regulations. (See Education Week, 5/10/95-->.)

The American Association of Educators in Private Practice, based in
Watertown, Wis., organized the three-day conference last month. Though
it included sessions on private management of public schools and
contracting for other services, the charter-school discussions were the
liveliest.

About 165 charter schools are up and running nationwide--and there
are dozens more in the pipeline in states that are still reviewing
applications, said Joe Nathan, the director of the Center for School
Change at the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Nathan released a study here by the center and the Education
Commission of the States that found that charter supporters primarily
seek educational freedom.

In the survey of about 100 educators and parents in charter public
schools in seven states, full autonomy ranked first among their
priorities--even higher than obtaining seed money to open the
schools.

Two-thirds of the school officials said they had an integrated or
interdisciplinary curriculum; about half said technology was a focus.
While most of the schools serve a cross-section of students, many were
designed for at-risk, learning-disabled, or gifted children, according
to the survey.

Educators acknowledged obstacles such as finding enough money and a
building--about 40 percent lease space--but said that "better teaching
and learning for all kids" kept them going, the study says.

"People all over the U.S. are eager--and in some cases,
desperate--to start these schools, even though it's hard work," Mr.
Nathan said. "And they're willing to put their jobs on the line with
the understanding that they will be allowed to do whatever they think
is best."

Copies of the report are available for $5 each from the Center for
School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, 301 19th
Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minn. 55455; (612) 626-1834.

Though the boosters were enthusiastic about their prospects in the
states, they also acknowledged that charter schools face a big hurdle:
funding. It is not only a matter of getting the money, but of managing
it, several state education officials said.

"There's a lack of awareness that a charter school is really a
small, entrepreneurial business," said Linda Fuller, the Arizona
education department's administrator for charter schools. The state
passed its charter law this year and already has approved several
schools sponsored by districts.

Often, the most successful schools have backers with business
experience who devise detailed, long-range plans for spending, one
participant noted during a session on funding.

Several states are trying to enlist support from the business
community to help fledgling schools.

In Arizona, the education department is trying to match local
businesses with charter schools, and officials there hope to enroll
some teachers and parents in corporate training sessions, Ms. Fuller
noted.

Applicants there must submit a three-year business plan. Education
officials have asked business people to help them determine whether
those plans are sound.

In addition, Ms. Fuller said, Arizona seeks to educate the
real-estate industry about the charter law, since such businesses deal
with zoning and planning--often key factors in opening a charter
school.

The interest in the schools has overwhelmed Arizona officials, said
Ms. Fuller, whose department has been swamped with applications for
approval and funding.

The U.S. Education Department also has money available for charter
schools.

Jonathan Schnur, the department's special assistant to the deputy
secretary, said the federal government has a $6 million fund that will
primarily help with start-up costs in states with charter laws.

But schools can also get creative, with money available in some
cases under the federal Title I, Goals 2000, or school-to-work
programs.

While word spreads about how the schools are faring, other states
are considering charter legislation this summer or plan to in the next
session.

But Louann A. Bierlein, an education-policy analyst in Baton Rouge,
La., pointed out that "the opposition is becoming much more savvy" in
many places.

While critics once sought to defeat charter legislation, now they
often back weaker versions that may not add momentum to the movement,
she said.

In a session about the provisions of some of the 19 existing charter
laws, Ms. Bierlein noted that three new laws fell at the weak end of
the spectrum.

She speculated that opponents lined up behind watered-down bills so
they could later argue that charter schools were not working as a
reform.

"Generally, the bills are also becoming much more complicated--I
think that's going to weigh things down, ultimately," Ms. Bierlein
added.

In Rhode Island, for example, charter schools must enroll the same
percentage of special-education or limited-English-proficient students
as the local district as a whole. And in Delaware, a charter school
cannot enroll fewer than 200 students without special approval from the
state.

Such restrictions make it hard to get charters off the ground,
several participants said.

Ember Reichgott Junge, a Minnesota state senator who sponsored the
state's charter-school legislation, said she tried to make the law
broad enough to avoid those pitfalls.

For example, she said, the legislature used boilerplate language for
why charters could be revoked, listing only such reasons as fraud.

"We deliberately left it that way," she said, "because we didn't
want boards to be able to come in and do away with [the schools] as the
political winds changed."

--Joanna Richardson

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